German hate speech law tested as Twitter blocks satire account

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German satirical magazine's Twitter account
was blocked after it parodied anti-Muslim comments, the
publication said on Wednesday, in what the national journalists
association said showed the downside of a new law against online
hate speech.

Titanic magazine was mocking Beatrix von Storch, a member of the
right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who accused
police of trying "to appease the barbaric, Muslim, rapist hordes
of men" by putting out a tweet in Arabic.

Twitter briefly suspended her account and prosecutors are
examining if her comments amount to incitement to hatred.

Titanic magazine published its send-up late on Tuesday, in a
tweet purporting to be from von Storch to the police, saying:
"The last thing that I want is mollified barbarian, Muslim,
gang-raping hordes of men."

Titanic said on Wednesday its Twitter account had been blocked
over the message, which it assumed was a result of a law that
came into full force on Jan. 1 that can impose fines of up to 50
million euros ($60 million) on social media sites that fail to
remove hate speech promptly.

"We are shocked," Titanic editor Tim Wolff said on the magazine's
website, adding that Chancellor Angela Merkel and Justice
Minister Heiko Maas had promised that the new law would not have
this kind of effect.

A Twitter spokesman said the company did not comment on
individual accounts, for reasons of privacy and security.

The Association of German Journalists (DJV) said the Twitter move
amounted to censorship, adding it had warned of this danger when
the law was drawn up last year.

"A private company based in the United States decides the
boundaries of freedom of the press and opinion in Germany," DJV
Chairman Frank Ueberall said in a statement, calling on
parliament to reverse the hate speech law.

Twitter, Facebook and other social media platforms are scrambling
to adapt to the law, and its implementation is being closely
watched after warnings that the threat of fines could prompt
websites to block more content than necessary.

Germany has some of the world's toughest laws on defamation,
incitement to commit crimes and threats of violence, with prison
sentences for Holocaust denial or inciting hatred against
minorities.

Merkel's conservatives accused the AfD of undermining the
post-war democratic consensus in Germany.

"The racism that AfD lawmakers have been tweeting for days is
intentionally violating, with criminal intent, the basic
consensus which democrats have built up since 1949 despite all
disagreements," Armin Laschet, party deputy of Merkel's Christian
Democrats, tweeted.

"By doing this, they want to pave the way to a totally different
republic."